Sebelius: ACA delay wasn't an option

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said delaying the launch of the insurance exchanges was “not really an option” — even though those building the federal website knew about major problems days in advance.

“There are people in this country who have waited decades for affordable health coverage, people who are so eager for this to happen,” Sebelius told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on Tuesday night. “Waiting is not really an option.”

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She also said President Barack Obama was told about the major problems with the website in the first couple of days after it launched. Before the launch, she said, the president only knew about testing that officials were doing on the website.

“I think it became clear early on, in the first couple days,” she said, when asked at what point the president knew about the glitches.

Asked whether the administration needed more time to build the website, Sebelius said they could have used as much time as they’d been given.

“If we had an ideal situation and could have built a product in a five-year period of time, we could have taken five years,” she said. “But we didn’t have five years, and Americans who rely on it for health coverage didn’t have five years.”

Sebelius didn’t offer any more details about how many people have enrolled, just saying that “thousands” have signed up but not specifying whether that includes completing the entire health plan enrollment process. Nor would she say exactly when HealthCare.gov will be fully functioning.

The administration hasn’t answered either question so far.

And when asked whether she’s talked to the president about resigning due to the disastrous launch — as some Republicans have called for — the former governor of Kansas replied: “What I’ve talked to the president about is doing what I came here to do.”

She did say the administration had hoped private contractors who built the faulty site had their “A game” on the table originally, but now they want “new eyes and ears” to help fix the site. The administration announced Tuesday that it’s bringing in top technology officers from the private sector to help fix the website’s ongoing problems.

“I’m talking with CEOs and urging them to make sure we have the talent they have available,” she said. “We want new eyes and ears. We want to make sure we get all the questions on the table, and we get all the answers.”